DTR-T2000 No analog out

Trying to replace Sky+HD distributed to two other rooms. I'm starting with a second hand Humax DTR-T2000 with 2GB HDD inserted/formatted/setup.

I tested the box when I first got it with the new disk and everything seemed fine. That was using the HDMI out only though, and connected to a monitor with the aerial located in loft.

Now I've moved it downstairs next to the television, and got a signal to the antenna in, I find that the antenna out doesn't seem to be producing any signal whatsoever.

I've obviously turned "on" the Analogue out option in settings. I've also tried using SCART instead of HDMI to the television, but still had no analogue signal from the DTR-T2000 scanning the television through all channels 21-69.

I've looked at the mainboard thinking there might be an easily replacable RD modulator behind the antenna socets, but popping off the shielding lid only shows small components on the mainboard, which all looked okay.

Any other suggestions? I'm not new to tinkering, but new to youview!

Thanks,

Ben

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Comments

The RF Antenna Out on YouView boxes only ever passes on the signal from the RF Antenna In, after the box has been tuned, and the output from catchup, recordings, etc., is only available on the SCART and HDMI outputs, and currently* not on both at once.

So you won’t see any RF modulator in the box because there is no RF modulation going on.

There is a setting on the box for RF Loopthrough; it is necessary to set this On for the RF Out to remain available when the box is in deep standby, but you should get RF Out no matter what when the box is On.

If you have no RF Out, given that you have a working TV aerial connected to the RF In, and that the box has been tuned in, then you have probably been sold a duff YouView box, and you should look to the seller for redress.

But if you are expecting RF Out without any RF In, or without tuning the box, then you will be disappointed, as YouView boxes don't do that.

*At the moment, there is a problem that you can't get SCART output if you are also taking HDMI output.

Perhaps this is why you can't get any analogue out on SCART either? Pull the HDMI cable off the YouView box, and you should be able to expect TV channels from a tuned-in aerial, catchup and the playback of recordings over the SCART.

I say 'problem', though @Sarah, YouView's support representative on here, has been advised that we should not expect HDMI and SCART to work side by side. Despite my providing proof that senior YouView staffers acknowledged this as a bug, and it was fixed, several years ago. We don't know when the issue crept back in, whether with the launch of NextGen or in a later release. But there is a serious disconnect here, which we await Sarah’s revised comments on.

But that is by the by for you; just pull that HDMI, and if you still get nothing over SCART, the box is faulty.

Once you get, or find you actually have, a working box, to do the Sky-type thing you need to put the SCART output through an RF modulator connected to your aerial system; either a dedicated RF modulator or an old VCR would do the trick. This will let the output of the YouView box appear on the analogue tuner of other TVs on your aerial system.

Shall you want to control the YouView box remotely, from where those other TVs are, Sky Magic Eye style? Solutions exist, but this is a whole further question.

“Where’s ‘Jump to Time’ then? And all that other OldGen good stuff we were promised back, including the proper ‘Hide Channels’ and so on?” (Excerpt from ‘One Billboard Outside YouView Towers’, not coming soon to a box near you)

That's a thorough and useful explanation Roy, thank you for taking the time!

What I was expecting was the Youview picture to be broadcast on the antenna out on a particular frequency/channel (although I'd also noted it didn't give any indication which channel or how to change it), like any other set top box from more than 10 years ago (the last time I got a set top box)! This is important to distributing the picture on the existing co-ax threaded through the house (by the previous occupant).

Now that I know there is no youview picture on the RF out, that makes a lot more sense (especially about the RF modulator only being a shielding box with nothing in it), and I can say the DTR-T2000 is acting exactly as it should.

The freeview signals are indeed being passed through, although the signal is borderline acceptable so HD channels break up quite a lot, although SD channels don't at all. Having said that, once it's gone through the Sky+HD RF pass-through the freeview signal has gone completely -- I can probably work around that!

Thanks for the suggestion of the SCART->RF modulator. I will probably go down that route for distribution. I have looked at various devices for remote control, but will probably stick with using the Youview app on tablet or phones in the first instance anyway.

I had seen from other comments that there is apparently a problem with simultaneous HD and SCART output (which would be a problem for me), but I can say that the DTR-T2000 that I'm using (with updated software as of a couple of days ago) is working fine and outputting the picture on both SCART and HDMI at the same time, not sure why.

Anyway, thanks again. I'm now informed enough to continue with the plan!

I guess I had better also inform you then, that brilliant though it is, the YouView app does not function as a remote control.

It lets you set up recordings on the box it is paired with, and see what the EPG of that box is showing*, and see what recordings have been made, and what recordings are scheduled; but once paired, it does not talk direct to your box, but relies on the app and the box communicating, not quite in real time, via a YouView cloud server.

*The app gets the list of the channels from the box via the server, and downloads the EPG for those channels from the server, or a server at least, so it’s the same EPG for all intents and purposes, but it’s not getting the actual EPG entries from the box.

For remote viewing, I used to have a Digisender transmitter on the SCART Out of a Sky box, and Digisender receivers on the SCART In of a couple of TVs elsewhere in the house. I could point a Sky remote at a Digisender receiver, and an IR blaster provided with the Digisender transmitter would relay the signal to the magic eye input on the Sky box. It gave a better picture than the RF method, and anyway, these TVs weren’t on an aerial system.

But Digisenders played hell with WiFi, so you would need a more modern equivalent if you wanted to use a remote remote.

“Where’s ‘Jump to Time’ then? And all that other OldGen good stuff we were promised back, including the proper ‘Hide Channels’ and so on?” (Excerpt from ‘One Billboard Outside YouView Towers’, not coming soon to a box near you)